Oct 31, 2012

"TheEuropean Unionimports around 15 times more produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank than Palestinian products, despite its consistent condemnation ofIsrael's settlement policy as illegal under international law, according to a report.

Based on figures supplied by Israel to the World Bank, the estimated value of settlement imports to the EU is $300m (£187m) a year. The comparative figure for Palestinian produce is less than $20m. "With more than 4 million Palestinians and over 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied territory, this means the EU imports over 100 times more per settler than per Palestinian," says Trading Away Peace: How EuropeHelps Sustain Illegal Israeli Settlements, published by a consortium of 22 organisations across Europe."